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A  UTHOR : 


PRESCOTT,  HENRY  W 


TITLE: 


POSITION  OF 
"DEFERRED"  NOUNS 

PLACE: 

[CHICAGO] 

DA  TE : 

[1912] 


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Prescott,    Henry  W. 

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Reprinted  from  Classical  Philology,  Vol.  VII,  No.  I.January,  1912 


THE   POSITION  OF   "DEFERRED"  NOUNS  AND  ADJEC 
TIVES  IN  EPIC  AND  DRAMATIC  VERSE 

By  Henry  W   Prescott 

Our  appreciation  of  classical  verse  is  seriously  affected  by  the 
difficulty  of  estimating  certain  factors  in  ancient  verse  that  are  alien 
to  most  modem  poetry.  The  editor  of  Horace's  Odes  notes  the 
artistic  interlocking  of  words;  the  student  of  Propertius  discovers 
a  high  degree  of  conscious  art  in  the  rhymed  endings  of  words  at  the 
ends  of  metrical  phrases;  the  student  of  epic  observes  the  emphasis 
produced  by  position  at  the  beginnmg  of  the  hexameter,  or  the  arti- 
ficial bracketing  of  a  verse  by  words  at  the  beginning  and  end  which 
are  in  sound  or  sense,  or  both,  closely  related.  Such  observations 
are  often  quite  true  from  a  descriptive  standpoint;  but  after  these 
features  have  been  described  there  remains  a  more  difficult  problem: 
Just  what  degree  of  conscious  art  is  represented  by  such  features 
of  ancient  verse?  To  what  extent  are  they  due  to  conditions  of 
verse  composition  beyond  the  poet's  control  ?  To  what  extent  do 
they  reveal  a  happy  compromise  between  mechanical  necessity  and 
the  artist's  natural  desire  to  enforce  the  thought  and  embellish  the 
form  ?  The  final  appreciation  of  the  poet's  art  must  carry  us  beyond 
mere  description,  which  is  seldom  altogether  free  from  the  influence 
of  the  critic's  sympathy  with  modern  poetry,  and  lead  us  to  an 
understanding  of  the  peculiar  problems  of  the  ancient  poet,  of  the 
necessary  adjustment  of  conflicting  factors,  many  of  which  are  foreign 
to  modern  verse. 

A  feature  of  epic  verse  that  has  escaped  general  recognition  but 
has  been  incidentally  noted  by  one  or  two  special  students  of  Homer 
and  Vergil  is  the  somewhat  monotonous  regularity  with  which  words 
and  phrases  that  escape  into  the  second  verse  of  a  sequence  of  two 
verses  stand  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse  rather  than  else- 
where. Such  words  are  closely  connected  in  thought  with  the  first 
verse  and  might  reasonably  be  expected  to  stand  somewhere  near 
the  beginning  rather  than  the  end  of  the  second  verse  in  response 
to  the  natural  requirements  of  collocation.    But  there  is  a  stereotyped 

[Classical  Philology  VII,  January,  1912]    35 


) 


36 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


/ 


effect  resulting  from  the  regularity  of  epic  procedure  that  demands 
recognition  and  explanation.  In  an  article  on  the  Homeric  caesura 
(Harvard  Studies  III,  91  ff.)  the  late  Professor  Seymour  increased 
our  appreciation  of  rhythmical  effects  in  the  Homeric  poems:  he  made 
it  clear  that  units  of  thought  were  often  deferred  to  the  beginning 
of  the  second  verse  of  a  given  couplet;  that  this  deferred  unit  in 
many  cases  contained  the  burden  of  the  thought  in  the  second 
verse,  the  rest  of  the  second  verse  being  occupied  by  a  repetition  or 
elaboration  of  the  idea  already  expressed;  that  the  resultant  effect 
was  the  very  regular  appearance  of  a  pause  in  the  thought  near  the 
beginning  of  many  verses,  a  pause  varying  in  position  according  to 
the  length  of  the  deferred  unit;  that  in  this  way  the  poet  attained  a 
happy  variation  of  the  rhythm  without  essential  disturbance  of  verse 
ipiity.    The  opening  couplet  of  the  Iliad  illustrates  these  features: 

ovXo/i.cvi7V,  rj  fivpL^  'A;(aiots  oXyc^  edrjKev. 

By  following  one  group  of  these  deferred  units  through  representative 
Greek  and  Latin  poets,  through  the  two  different  types  of  epic  and 
drama,  we  may  arrive  at  somewhat  broader  conclusions  without  im- 
pairing the  results  of  Professor  Seymour's  admirable  study.^  For 
this  purpose  I  have  chosen  the  noun  and  the  adjective,  in  each  case 
syntactically  united  to  an  adjective  or  noun  in  the  preceding  verse 
but  postponed  to  the  second  verse;  for  convenience  I  call  such 
noims  and  adjectives  " deferred/' 


In  the  Homeric  epics  the  deferred  adjective  is  far  more  conspicuous 
than  the  deferred  noun;  in  this  respect,  as  in  many  others,  verse  unity 
is  manifest.  Omitting  the  cases  of  more  than  one  adjective,  the 
examples  of  single  adjectives  deferred  to  the  second  verse  number  over 
430  ;2  about  four-fifths  of  this  number  stand  at  the  beginning  of  the 

>  Professor  Seymour's  opinion  (op.  cU.,  p.  91)  that  Greek  poetry  was  composed  for 
the  ear  and  Latin  poetry  for  the  eye  (to  which  I  cannot  fully  assent)  seems  to  me  to 
have  prevented  his  appreciation  of  the  full  significance  of  the  phenomena  in  Homer 
in  their  relation  to  later  classical  poetry.  But  the  value  of  his  careful  study  has  not 
been  properly  recognized. 

*  The  material  upon  which  my  statements  are  based  is  collected  by  J.  La  Roche 
"Die  Stellung  des  attributiven  und  appositiven  Adjectivs  bei  Homer,"  Wiener  Siudien 
XIX,  171  flf.     I  have  not  distinguished  between  adherent  and  appositive  adjectives; 


"Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


37 


second  verse;  about  13  per  cent  have  an  initial  short  syllable  and 
are  excluded  from  the  beginning;  about  7  per  cent  appear  within  the 
verse,  although  they  have  an  initial  long  syllable;  of  this  7  per  cent, 
however,  practically  all  are  excluded  from  the  beginning  of  the  verse 
for  metrical  reasons  which  we  shall  presently  consider.  It  is  true, 
therefore,  that  the  deferred  adjective  m  the  Homeric  epic  stands  at 
the  beginning  of  the  second  verse  unless  excluded  from  that  position 
by  insuperable  metrical  restrictions. 

It  does  not  immediately  follow  that  metrical  convenience  is  an 
exclusive  or  dominant  factor  in  the  position  of  the  deferred  adjective. 
The  compelHng  force  of  metrical  convenience  may  be  roughly  esti- 
mated by  answering  two  questions:  Do  the  adjectives  in  epic  diction 
fall  into  a  limited  number  of  metrical  categories  ?  Are  words  of  these 
same  metrical  types  limited  to  a  definite  position  m  the  verse  ?  As 
a  temporary  answer  to  the  first  question  I  offer  the  fact  that,  out  of 
300  Homeric  adjectives  before  me,  four-fifths  fall  into  the  following 
four  groups,  arranged  in  order  of  frequency:  (a)  choriambic  and 
molossic,  (6)  dactylic,  (c)  trochaic,  (d)  spondaic.  Of  the  words  of 
correspondmg  metrical  types  the  treatment  is  about  as  follows: 
(a)  molossic  and  choriambic  words  are  limited  with  few  exceptions  to 
the  beginning  of  the  verse  and  to  position  just  before  the  masculine 
caesura  of  the  third  foot;  (6)  dactylic  words  appear  at  the  begmning 
of  the  verse  and  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  feet;  (c)  trochaic  words 
stand  at  the  beginning,  or  in  the  second  foot,  or  immediately  before 
the  feminine  caesura,  or  in  the  fifth  foot,  or  in  the  sixth  foot;  (d) 
spondaic  words  stand  at  the  beginning,  or  immediately  before  the 
masculine  caesura,  or  in  the  fourth  or  fifth  or  sixth  foot.^ 

It  is  clear  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  adjectives  might  stand 
beyond  the  beginning  of  the  verse,  but  a  more  careful  inspection 
greatly  reduces  this  possibility  and  brings  sharply  to  our  attention 

to  a  student  of  verse  unity  this  distinction  is  important,  but  the  position  of  the  adjec- 
tive is  independent  of  this  consideration.  The  collection  made  by  La  Roche  is  in- 
complete, as  might  be  expected,  but  I  have  preferred  not  to  make  additions,  which 
would  themselves  be  incomplete;  such  additions  would  change  slightly  the  statistics 
without  affecting  the  main  argument. 

» The  terms  "choriambic,"  "molossic,"  "  trochaic,"  etc.,  used  throughout  this  paper, 
are  to  be  understood  as  applying  to  the  metrical  form  as  it  appears  in  the  verse.  My 
purpose  is  merely  to  compare  the  adjectives  in  general  of  most  frequent  occurrence 
with  words  of  corresponding  metrical  types. 


1 


38 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


a  second  important  factor  in  the  position.  Although  words  of  these 
metrical  types  do  not  seem  to  be  greatly  restricted,  any  individual 
word  that  is  syntactically  related  to  another  word  in  the  preceding 
verse  is  obviously  impelled  toward  the  beginning  of  the  verse  by 
the  laws  of  collocation.  These  laws  are  by  no  means  clearly 
understood,  but  I  may  illustrate  the  force  of  attraction  in  the  case 
of  the  noun  and  adjective  by  the  following  facts  derived  from  La 
Roche's  material;  La  Roche  distinguishes  four  categories: 

a)  The  substantive  stands  at  the  end  of  the  first  verse,  the  adjec- 
tive at  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse:  115  cases. 

b)  The  substantive  stands  before  the  end  of  the  first  verse,  the 
adjective  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse:  231  cases. 

c)  The  substantive  stands  at  the  end  of  the  first  verse,  the  adjec- 
tive beyond  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse  or  rarely  in  the  third 
verse:  55  cases. 

d)  The  substantive  stands  before  the  end  of  the  first  verse,  the 
adjective  beyond  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse:  36  cases. 

The  large  number  of  cases  imder  a)  and  the  small  number  under 
d)  may  serve  to  indicate  that  the  attraction  of  the  adjective  to  its 
noim  eliminates  to  a  large  extent  the  possibility  of  placing  dactylic, 
trochaic,  and  spondaic  adjectives  in  the  second  half  of  the  verse. 

In  this  combination  of  metrical  form  with  the  requirement  of 
reasonably  close  collocation  may  be  found  a  strong  reason  for  the 
regular  recurrence  of  deferred  adjectives  at  or  near  the  beginning  of 
the  verse.  Before  we  consider  the  possibility  of  other  factors,  a 
brief  account  of  the  real  and  apparent  exceptions  will  shed  some  light 
on  the  metrical  limitations.  An  isolated  exception  to  the  principle 
in  TTcpl  Be  p6o<;  'H^eai/oio  |  a<f)pat  fiopfivpcov  peev  dairero^  (2  402) 
only  tests  the  rule.  Obviously  an  adjective  like  o^ela  (P  371) 
will  be  barred  from  the  beginning  in  spite  of  its  long  initial  syllable, 
unless  the  next  word  begins  with  two  consonants.  The  other 
exceptions  are  only  apparent  or  partial;  they  involve  choriambic 
or  molossic  adjectives;  words  of  this  measurement,  as  we  have 
seen,  are  practically  limited  to  the  beginning  of  the  verse  or  to 
position  before  the  masculine  caesura.  Now  in  twenty-six  cases 
adjectives  of  this  measurement  occupy  the  optional  position  before 
the  caesura;  I  have  no  desire  to  minimize  the  significance  of  such 


"Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives  39 

exceptions,  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  skteen  of  these  examples 
the  choriambic  or  molossic  adjective  is  preceded  by  a  dactylic  word 
a  combination  which  the  poet  is  under  no  obligation  to  effect  but 
which,  once  chosen,  requires  the  order  dactyl-choriamb  or  dactyl- 
molossus  and  eliminates  any  other  arrangement  (A  248  K  31  a  636 
P  420;    A  54,  U  368,  P  361,  X  481,  fl  672,  ?  45,  /^  357,  V  I61! 

p  209,  V  151;    to  these  add preceded  by  a  dactyl  hi 

N  617,  8  195).    The  remaining  ten  examples  are  of  choriambic  or 
molossic  adjectives  preceded  by  a  spondaic  word  (K  262    H  11 
2  598,  ^  125,  X  3;    A  482,  M  51,  N  82,  /9  428,  i  373).    Agam  it 
may  be  granted  that  this  particular  combination  is  not  inevitable 
and  in  this  case  it  certamly  seems  as  if  the  examples  violated 
the  prmciple  which  we  have  stated  as  aifecting  epic  verse;   for 
clearly  in  the  combmation  of  a  spondaic  word  with  a  choriambic 
or  molossic  word  at  the  beginning  of  a  verse  there  is  no  reason 
m  the  metrical  conditions  for  putting  the  molossic  or  choriambic 
adjective  second  in  the  verse;  it  might  stand  at  the  begmning  so  far 
as  the  mere  mechanism^  of  the  verse  is  concerned.    But  "mere  mech- 
anism" misrepresents  the  verse  structure;   it  is  much  more  than  a 
fixed  succession  of  quantities.    What  is  the  practice  of  the  Homeric 
epic  when  the  beginning  of  the  verse  is  formed  by  the  combination 
of  a  spondaic  word  and  a  choriambic  or  molossic  word  ?    Which  of 
the  two  words  precedes  ?    A  suflicient  answer  may  be  found  in  the  first 
and  third  books  of  the  Iliad:  in  these  two  books  I  have  noted  fifty- 
two  occurrences  of  this  combination  at  the  beginnmg  of  the  verse; 
the  spondaic  word  precedes  the  molossic  or  choriambic  word  in  all 
but  ten  cases,  and  in  nine  of  these  ten  cases  the  reverse  order  is 
impossible  because  of  meter,  collocation,  or  meaning;  on  the  other 
hand,  in  the  forty-two  cases  in  which  the  spondee  precedes,  there 
are  about  fifteen  m  which,  without  injury  to  the  meter,  collocation, 
or  meanmg,  the  spondee  might  have  stood  second  in  the  verse.    These 
facts  seem  to  indicate  the  distinct  preference  of  the  epic  poet*  for  the 
sequence  spondee-molossus  or  spondee-choriamb  as  agamst  molossus- 

» Of  these  ten  cases  aU  but  three  would  bear  a  reverse  order;  in  S  598  *  125 
S  11 ,  the  rearrangement  would  be  metrically  impossible,  except  with  hiatus. 

«  But  Vergil  as  we  shall  presently  see,  follows  precisely  the  opposite  method  and 
prefers  to  plac^  the  spondaic  word  second,  the  choriambic  or  molossic  first,  in  the  verse- 
CI.  oeio^r,  p.  oU. 


40 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


* 'Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


41 


spondee  or  choriamb-spondee.  The  exceptional  cases  of  deferred 
adjectives  involving  this  metrical  combination  conform  to  this 
preferred  sequence.  It  should  be  noted  that  in  this  small  minority  of 
exceptions  the  adjective  again  appears  before  a  pause — ^the  mam 

caesura. 

This  consideration  of  metrical  convenience  and  normal  collocation, 
however,  by  no  means  fully  explains  the  conditions  before  us.  If 
these  two  factors  were  exclusively  dominant,  we  should  properly 
expect  to  find  deferred  adjectives  of  trochaic  and  spondaic  measure- 
ment appearing  on  occasion  in  the  first  part  of  the  verse  beyond  the 
beginning;  we  should  also  expect  to  find  choriambic  or  molossic  adjec- 
tives before  the  masculine  caesura;  in  the  former  case  the  deferred 
adjectives  of  trochaic  and  spondaic  measurement  do  not  appear  in 
this  available  position;  m  the  latter  case  the  choriambic  and  molossic 
adjectives  do  appear  in  the  optional  position  but  only  under  the 
constraint  of  environing  metrical  conditions.  These  facts  point 
to  influences  outside  of  metrical  convenience  and  collocation  as  help- 
ing to  determine  the  position  of  deferred  adjectives  with  long  initial 
syllable  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse. 

The  deferred  adjectives  are  in  more  than  25  per  cent  of  the  cases 
followed  by  a  relative  or  other  explanatory  clause;  the  position  of 
the  adjective  at  the  begmning  of  the  verse  followed  by  such  a  clause 
seems  to  set  in  bold  relief  the  idea  expressed  in  the  adjective.  The 
particular  adjectives  deferred  to  the  beginning  of  the  verse  suggest 
to  anybody  familiar  with  Homeric  usage  ideas  that  are  naturally 
thrown  into  bold  relief:  iravre;,  ttoXXoi',  adjectives  of  material, 
iravTolo^,  dWof;,  tiaKp(k,  in/rT/Xo?,  Betvo^;,  i(r$\(k,  ofw,  w/cw, 
eoKthrov^:,  Scftd?,  Be^treptk,  vrjm(y;,  axerXio^y  \vyp<k,  apya\€o<;, 
0€<nr€aio<:,  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  this  effect  in  some 
degree  represents  the  conscious  intent  of  the  poet;  but  the  reader 
should  be  careful  not  to  be  too  quickly  persuaded  of  the  importance 
of  this  factor.  Whoever  explains  a  woWoi  at  the  beginning  of  a 
verse  as  due  to  the  prominence  of  the  thought  must  presently  reckon 
with  a  TToXu?  that  is  barred  from  the  beginning  of  the  verse  or  any 
other  emphatic  position.  Agam,  the  deferred  adjective  is  only  one 
of  many  deferred  units  that  stand  with  great  regularity  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  verse;  the  deferred  noun,  for  example,  follows  the  same 


.. 


principle,  but  it  is  rarely  the  case,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  that  any 
emphasis  is  attached  to  the  deferred  noun  at  the  beginning  of  the 
verse.  The  effect  of  the  deferred  adjectives,  however,  is  much 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  in  so  many  cases  picturesque  details  and 
prominent  ideas  are  set  in  relief.^ 

It  would  not  be  difficult  from  a  study  of  individual  examples  to 
illustrate  the  art  of  the  epic  poet  in  using  the  deferred  adjective  at  the 
beginnmg  of  the  verse  to  enforce  the  thought  in  various  ways,  to 
produce  picturesque  effects,  but  if  other  deferred  units  in  the  same  posi- 
tion do  not  uniformly  show  such  characteristics  it  becomes  doubtful 
whether  such  artistic  effects  are  exclusively  significant  in  the  position 
of  deferred  units  at  the  begmning  of  the  verse.  Even  the  wealth 
of  material  which  Professor  Seymour  uses  to  illustrate  the  ways  m 
which,  by  a  strong  pause  after  the  deferred  unit,  the  rhythm  is  varied 
does  not  suffice  fully  to  explain  the  conditions  in  the  material  before 
us.  The  deferred  noun,  for  example,  in  the  matter  of  position,  is 
treated  precisely  as  the  deferred  adjective  ;2  from  the  following  repre- 
sentative examples,  however,  one  can  only  infer  that  the  deferred 
noun  is  first  in  the  verse,  that  it  is  very  seldom  emphatic,  that  it  is 
only  on  occasion  immediately  followed  by  a  strong  sense  pause: 

Kai  fiLv  €<t>rjv  iXOovra  <l>iXrja'€fiev  €(oxov  oAAcov 
'A  p  yet  CUV,   (S  172) 

oAAa  TLv^  aXXrjv 
yatav  avdaTp€<t>oiJuu-   (i/326) 

drap  ovS'  aXkoicri  kcXcvcis 
Xaoto-tv  fJL€V€fji^v  Kal  ofiwefiofcu  wpeacriv   (E486) 
m  Srj  €y(o  y'  o<^cAoi/  /juucapo^  vv  rev  i/jifievtu  vtos 
dvepos,  ov  KTcaTco-o-iv  cois  «rt  y^pas  mrfiev.  (a  218) 

X€tAct  c<^c(rradrcs-   (M52) 

et  ttoOl  fi^ov  tXrjo'i 
K^TOS,    (ft  97) 

#cat  dpeuHTLV  yc  ircp  vpXv 
dvSpda-iv  &fu\rj(ray  (A  261) 

»  For  son  e  general  objections  to  attaching  significance  exclusively  to  the  emphasis 
in  deferred  adjectives  cf.  below,  p.  48. 

•The  facts  about  the  deferred  noun  may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows  (cf.  La  Roche 
op.  cit.,  169) :  There  are  fewer  than  100  cases  of  deferred  nouns  in  the  two  poems  as 
against  over  430  adjectives;  this  striking  evidence  of  the  sacredness  of  verse  unity  is 


42 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


"Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


43 


In  general,  as  these  examples  illustrate,  the  emphasis  is  on  the 
adjective  in  the  preceding  verse  and  a  strong  sense  pause  does  not 
invariably  follow  the  deferred  noun. 

It  is  not  impossible,  however,  that  the  conditions  in  the  Homeric 
poems  which  Professor  Seymour  has  described  reveal  a  stage  in  the 
development  of  epic  verse,  a  process  of  evolution,  that  may  help  to 
explain  the  persistency  with  which  deferred  units  in  general  seek 
the  first  place  in  the  verse.  These  conditions  are,  briefly,  that  the 
poems  preserve  the  unity  of  individual  verses;  that  if  an  expression 
escapes  into  the  second  verse  it  is  an  appositive  expression;  that  this 
appositive  expression  contains  the  burden  of  the  thought  in  the  second 
verse,  the  rest  of  the  verse  being  tautological,  or  amplifying,  or 
purely  decorative.  So  many  examples  of  such  structure  appear  that 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  they  represent  a  natural  stage 
in  the  development  from  a  crude  form  of  verse  unity  to  the  beginnings 
of  a  freer  structure.  In  this  transition  stage  the  appositive  adjectives, 
nouns  in  apposition,  limiting  genitives,  adverbs,  and  various  other 
separable  units,  whether  single  words  or  phrases,  escape  into  the 
second  verse,  are  set  off  by  a  strong  pause,  and  the  poet  has  not  as 
yet  the  skill  to  do  more  than  "pad"  the  rest  of  the  second  verse. 
In  the  course  of  further  development  the  units  that  escape  are  not 
so  inevitably  separable;  the  nouns,  for  example,  that  are  closely 
attached  to  adjectives,  as  well  as  those  loosely  attached,  run  over  into 
the  second  verse;  longer  units  escape;  the  sense  pause  becomes  less 
stereotyped;  the  poet  acquires  greater  skill  and  succeeds  in  develop- 
ing in  the  second  verse,  even  in  the  second  half,  less  tautological,  or 

increased  when  we  note  that  the  adjectives  in  the  preceding  verse  are  in  only  about 
twenty  cases  closely  adherent;  in  the  main  the  adjectives  in  the  preceding  verse  are 
easily  separable  from  their  nouns  (iras  and  dirai,  35  cases;  iroXi/j,  17  cases;  AXXoy, 
16  cases;  SafuiaL,  3  cases;  a^6s,  1).  As  regards  the  position  of  the  deferred  nouns, 
out  of  ninety-four  examples  seventy-five  stand  first  in  the  verse;  eleven  have  an 
initial  short  syllable;  only  eight  have  an  initial  long  syllable  and  escape  beyond  the 
beginning  of  the  verse;  the  eight  apparent  exceptions,  all  save  one,  correspond  to  the 
types  of  exceptions  which  we  have  discussed  under  the  deferred  adjective:  in  x  336 
a  trochaic  noun  (by  elision)  escapes  to  the  fifth  foot;  otherwise  we  have  simply  the 
sequence  of  dactylic  word  and  choriambic  word  (S  19),  of  spondaic  word  and  molossic 
word  (E  710,  Z  412,  T  84,  234),  of  spondaic  word  and  choriambic  word  (H  199) ;  in  one 
case  we  seem  to  have  a  choriambic  word  followed  by  a  spondaic  word  contrary  to  the 
favored  sequence  as  postulated  above  (p.  39) ;  but  in  this  case  the  deferred  noun  is 
by  nature  trochaic  and  so  could  not  precede  the  choriambic  word,  which  begins  with 
a  vowel  (S  34). 


>. 


amplifying,  or  decorative  thought.  The  Homeric  poems  are  not 
necessarily  in  any  very  early  stage  of  verse  development,  but  as  our 
earliest  document  they  show  better  than  any  other  poems  the  traces 
of  earlier  developments.  If  we  may  safely  posit  a  somewhat  long 
stage  of  early  development  in  which  deferred  adjectives,  limiting 
genitives,  adverbs,  and  the  like,  stood  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse  set 
off  by  a  strong  sense  pause,  this  long  early  stage  would  very  likely 
leave  its  mark  in  future  development  toward  freer  structure.  The 
early  stage  leads  to  a  stereotyping  of  deferred  words  at  the  beginning 
of  the  second  verse,  and  even  after  the  consciousness  of  verse  unity  is 
completely  lost,  a  sort  of  convention  has  become  established  which 
impels  deferred  adjectives  and  nouns  and  other  units  to  the  beginning 
of  the  verse.  This  theory,  at  any  rate,  is  m  accord  with  the  facts 
brought  out  in  this  paper.  Professor  Seymour  shows  that  in  later 
Greek  epic  the  burden  of  the  thought  is  no  longer  limited 
to  the  first  half  of  the  verse,  that  verse  unity  is  no  longer  sacred; 
it  might  be  added  that  the  units  which  escape  into  the  second 
verse  are  no  longer  merely  appositive.  But  in  spite  of  this  develop- 
ment of  enjamhement  the  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  (and  other 
units  which  I  cannot  at  present  discuss)  with  great  regularity  assert 
themselves  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse.  Much  as  metrical 
convenience,  natural  collocation,  and  artistic  effects  may  contribute 
to  this  position,  there  is  clear  evidence  in  trochaic  and  spondaic  adjec- 
tives in  Homer  of  some  other  constraining  force;  this  seems  to  me 
to  be  convention,  and  the  convention  may  possibly  be  an  outgrowth 
from  early  conditions  which  are  illustrated  in  many  couplets  of  the 
Homeric  poems. 

II 

The  Hesiodic  epics,  in  which  Professor  Seymour  detected  a  diminu- 
tion of  the  verses  carrying  the  burden  of  thought  in  the  first  half, 
in  the  position  of  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  show  no  variation 
from  Homeric  usage.  The  deferred  noun  is  as  yet  undeveloped. 
The  Hellenistic  epic  has  made  a  distinct  advance.  The  Argonautica 
shows  very  much  less  regard  for  verse  unity.  The  examples  of 
deferred  nouns  in  my  collection  slightly  outnumber  the  deferred 
adjectives,  and  the  deferred  adjectives  are  not  so  invariably  apposi- 
tive as  in  Homer.    The  total  of  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  is 


:'» 


44 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


appreciably  greater  than  in  Homer:  ApoUonius'  5,800  verses  contain 
over  350  cases,  while  the  two  long  Homeric  epics  contain  slightly 

more  than  530. 

In  spite  of  a  few  significant  differences  in  details,  the  greater 
number  of  cases  in  ApoUonius  gives  the  appearance  of  even  more 
regularity  in  the  position  of  the  deferred  words.  Only  8  per  cent  of 
the  examples  have  an  initial  long  syllable  and  are  deferred  beyond 
the  beginning  of  the  verse;  these  apparent  exceptions  fall  under 
the  Homeric  categories:  words  of  the  type  o^ela  (ii.  405;  iii.  149, 
1204;  iv.  894,  1662,  1678)  occur  more  frequently  than  in  Homer; 
similarly  ^eivrjiov  (iv.  1555)  is  impossible  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse; 
a  dactylic  word  escapes  but  with  special  artistic  effects  (iv.  1144); 
the  majority  of  the  cases  involve  molossic  or  choriambic  words; 
(o)  preceded  by  a  dactylic  word  or  unit  (i.  606,  1256;  ii.  439;  iii. 
1205;  iv.  188,  1034,  1403,  1425,  1614);   (6)  preceded  by  a  spondaic 

word  (iv.  378);    to  these  should  be  added and  -  ^ , 

preceded  by  a  dactylic  or  spondaic  combination  (iv.  713,  1721). 
But  the  most  significant  group  of  exceptions  is  composed  of 
trochaic  and  spondaic  words  ^  escaping  beyond  the  beginning  of 
the  verse  (i.  1071,  1239;  ii.  920;  iii.  155,  208,  1067;  iv.  493);  these 
are  relatively  few  in  number,  but  it  will  be  remembered  that  it  is 
mamly  this  group  of  words  the  treatment  of  which  in  Homer  led  us 
to  suspect  an  established  convention;  only  one  case  occurred  in  the 
earlier  epic.  Agam  it  will  be  noted  that  in  most  of  these  few  excep- 
tions the  deferred  word  is  found  before  the  main  caesura. 

In  Quintus  of  Smyrna  the  procedure  is  as  in  ApoUonius;  in  the 
last  four  books  of  the  Posthomerica  the  exceptions  are  few  and  of  the 
Hellenistic  types  (xiii.  102,  424,  452;  xiv.  487,  491).  In  Hellenistic 
hexameter  outside  of  the  epic  the  principle  seems  to  be  observed, 
although  the  different  literary  types  naturally  vary  in  the  extent 
to  which  they  use  the  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives.    In  the  Hymns 

» ApoUonius  does  not  seem  to  favor  so  decidedly  as  Homer  the  sequences  spondee- 
choriamb  and  spondee-molossus.  In  general  we  should  expect  the  choice  between  these 
optional  sequences  to  be  determined  in  each  case  by  the  particular  words  involved: 
•  the  poet  would  arrange  them  largely  with  reference  to  the  initial  and  final  syllables, 
with  a  view  to  avoiding  illegitimate  hiatus  and  to  obtaining  long  final  syllables  by 
position.  In  the  three  cases  involving  these  combinations  the  sequence  in  iii.  1067, 
iv.  493  is  unavoidable,  but  the  sequence  in  iv.  378  seems  to  be  deliberate  choice; 
accordingly  the  Homeric  preference  is  observed  so  far  as  our  examples  are  concerned. 


"Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


45 


of  Callimachus  the  exceptions  are  of  the  usual  sort  (iii.  12,  219,  243, 
253;  iv.  54);  but  in  iv.  282  a  trochaic  noun  escapes  to  the  second 
foot.  In  Theocritus  ii.  103  a  trochaic  noun  stands  m  the  third  foot 
but  apparently  somewhat  forced  by  the  environing  conditions; 
in  xxii.  113  another  trochaic  noun  appears  beyond  the  beginning,  but 
perhaps  to  brmg  nearer  together  contrasted  adjectives;  in  xxv.  7 
the  real  unit  is  ov  irdaai  and  not  iraaat.  Any  such  exceptions,  even 
if  real,  are  too  few  to  mar  the  general  effect.  The  Dionysiaca  of 
Nonnus  seems  to  me  to  stand  on  a  very  different  footing;  although 
it  is  in  general  true  that  the  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  when  they 
occur  conform  to  the  principle,  the  more  important  fact  is  that  this 
epic  is  totally  unlike  Homer,  or  ApoUonius,  or  Quintus  of  Smyrna 
in  respect  to  the  general  effect.  One  may  read  page  after  page  of  the 
Dionysiaca  without  being  at  all  conscious  of  any  constant  recurrence 
of  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  (or  even  other  deferred  units) 
at  the  beginning  of  the  verse;  this  is  quite  impossible  in  earlier  epic. 
Although  I  have  not  made  any  careful  collection  of  material  it  seems 
to  me  that  in  general  Nonnus  follows  fundamentally  different  methods; 
some  of  these  Professor  Seymour  has  roughly  indicated  at  the  end 
of  his  article;  the  neglect  of  pauses  within  the  verse  is  very  likely 
connected  with  the  strikingly  small  number  of  deferred  units  at  the 
beginning  of  the  verse;  in  the  case  of  adjectives  and  nouns  it  is  also 
true  that  the  content  of  Nonnus'  diction  is  essentially  different  from 
Homeric  diction;  so  for  example  I  think  I  detect  a  greater  number 
of  adjectives  with  short  initial  syllables;  there  are  consequently 
relatively  few  nouns  and  adjectives  in  the  prominent  position,  and  the 
monotonous  effect  of  earlier  epic  disappears. 

Ill 

So  far  as  we  may  safely  argue  from  the  fragments,  the  Annates  of 
Ennius  continues  the  characteristic  features  of  the  Hellenistic  epic: 
the  deferred  noun  is  so  frequent  that  ApoUonius  rather  than  the 
Homeric  epic  indicates  the  stage  of  verse  development  which  Ennius 
has  attained  in  this  particular  detail.  Of  the  fifteen  examples^  of 
nouns  and  adjectives  there  are  only  two  that  need  special  comment — 

» Vss.  31,  66,  80,  81,  92,  145  (predicate  adj.),  165,  184,  191,  237.  247,  304,  333, 
369,  615  (Vahlen*);   two-thirds  of  these  are  nouns. 


iv 


Ill 


46 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


in  184:  proletarius  publicitus  scutisque  feroque  |  ornatur  ferrOy  a 
spondaic  noun  escapes  beyond  the  beginning;  it  will  be  noticed, 
however,  that  the  reverse  order  is  impossible  except  with  hiatus, 
and  also  that  feroque  \  ferro  is  hardly  a  pleasing  juxtaposition;  it  is 
true  that  the  sequence  of  molossic  word  and  spondaic  word  is  not  the 
preferred  Homeric  sequence,  but  in  this  respect  the  Latin  hexameter 
may  differ  from  the  Greek  and  in  this  particular  case  a  different 
arrangement  is  impossible.  The  second  example  is  somewhat  uncer- 
tain, but  if  the  text  is  correct  a  molossic  adjective  escapes,  resulting 
in  the  combination  of  a  spondaic  word  and  a  molossic  word  at  the 
beginning  as  in  the  ten  Homeric  cases  discussed  above  (p.  39): 
insignita  fere  tum  milia  militum  octo  |  duxit  deledos  bellum  tolerare 
potentes  (333).  In  this  case  the  reverse  order  is  metrically  possible; 
and  although  we  may  dismiss  the  exception  as  being  in  accord  with 
the  favored  Homeric  sequence,  we  must  note  also  that  it  is  not  in 
accord  with  the  practice  of  Vergil,  who  as  we  shall  see  prefers,  when 
the  option  is  open  to  him,  to  place  the  spondaic  word  after  the 
molossic  or  choriambic  word  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse.  In 
general,  however,  there  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  epic  of 
Ennius  would  make  a  different  impression  from  that  of  Apollonius 
in  respect  to  deferred  noims  and  adjectives. 

On  the  other  hand  the  didactic  poem  of  Lucretius,  if  I  may  draw 
conclusions  from  the  first  book,  does  make  a  totally  different  impres- 
sion. Although  the  deferred  noim  and  adjective  stand  with  reason- 
able frequency  at  the  beginning  when  metrically  adapted  to  that 
position,  there  is  a  strikingly  large  number  of  examples  of  adjective^ 
and  nouns  escaping  beyond  the  beginning,  in  spite  of  their  being 
available  for  the  mitial  position;  the  result  is  that  one  reads  the  first 
book  of  Lucretius  without  any  consciousness  of  the  monotonous 
regularity  of  Homeric  procedure.  The  following  examples  illustrate 
the  conspicuous  differences:  8:  .  .  .  .  tibi  suavis  daedala  tellus  | 
summittit  ^ores,  tibi  rident  aequora  ponti.  70:  ...  .  sed  eo  magis 
acrem  \  inritat  animi  virtutenij  effringere  ut  arta  \  naturae  primus 
portanun  claustra  cupiret.  286:  .  .  .  .  ita  magno  turbidus  imbri 
I  molibus  incurrit  validis  cum  viribus  amnis:  408:  talibus  in  rebus 
poteris  caecasque  latebras  \  insinuare  omnis  et  verum  protrahere  inde. 
416:  quam  tibi  de  quavis  una  re  versibus  omnis  \  argumentorum  sit 


4 


*# 


4 


it' 


'» 


1 


"Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


47 


copia  missa  per  auris.  419:  omnis  ut  est  igitur  per  se  natura  dwafews 
Iconstitit  in  rebus;  922:  ....  sed  a^cri  \  percussit  thyrso  laudis 
spes  magna  meum  cor.  931:  primum  quod  magnis  doceo  de 
rebus  et  artis  \  religionum  animum  nodis  exsolvere  pergo.  966: 
.  ...  in  omnis  \  tantundem  partis  infinitum  omne  relinquit.  969: 
.  .  .  .  siquis  procurrat  ad  oras  \  ultimus  extremas  iaciatque  volatile 
telum,  996 :  at  nunc  nimirum  requies  data  principiorum  |  corporibus 
nullastj  1042:  nee  plagae  possunt  extrinsecus  undique  summam  \ 
conservare  omnem  quaecumque  est  conciliata.  It  is  true  that  some 
of  these  conform  to  the  exceptional  cases  in  Homer;  419  illustrates 
the  necessary  sequence  of  a  dactylic  word  and  a  molossic  word  (for 
in  rebus  is  a  imit);  similarly  969;  it  is  true  also  that  in  several  cases 
the  first  two  words  could  not  be  reversed  (966, 1042) ;  but  the  striking 
fact  remains  that  spondaic  and  trochaic  words  escape  with  surprising 
frequency  as  compared  with  the  practice  of  Homer  and  even  of 
Apollonius;  furthermore  it  is  particularly  noteworthy  that  there  are 
four  cases  (8,  408,  922,  996)  in  which  a  spondaic  noun  or  adjective 
stands  second  following  a  choriambic  or  molossic  word,  although 
the  reverse  order  in  each  case  is  metrically  possible;  this  is  in  direct 
opposition  to  Homeric  practice,  but  in  accord  with  the  usage  of 
Vergil.  Apart  from  this  feature,  which  we  must  regard  as  peculiar 
to  the  Latin  hexameter,  the  different  impression  created  by  Lucre- 
tius' poem  is  perhaps  in  a  measure  due  to  the  diction  of  the 
philosophical  epic;  the  presence,  for  example,  of  argumentorum  in  416 
makes  an  initial  position  for  the  dactylic  word  copia  less  available. 
The  exceptions,  as  the  examples  show,  usually  bring  the  deferred 
word  before  the  main  caesura. 

In  Catullus'  epyllium  (Ixiv)  we  return  to  Hellenistic  technique. 
Not  only  is  the  usage  of  Greek  epic  strictly  followed,  but  the  monotony 
is  almost  intensified  by  the  small  number  of  words  that  begin  with  a 
short  initial  syllable  and  by  the  rather  regular  recurrence  of  a  sense 
pause^  after  the  deferred  noun  or  adjective  when  it  stands  in  the 
first  place.  Once  the  deferred  noun  escapes  to  the  end  of  the  verse 
(17)  balancing  the  adjective  at  the  end  of  the  preceding  verse;  this 


*  The  reader  need  hardly  be  cautioned  against  regarding  commas  as  essential 
indications  of  sense  pauses;  modern  punctuation  fails  to  represent  fully  the  pauses  in 
recitation. 


C^ 


...» 

i 


48 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


is  in  the  style  of  Apollonius,  and  cultivated  by  Vergil.  A  trochaic 
noun  escapes  (281)  hut  with  obvious  advantage  to  the  style:  quos 
Thessala  magnis  |  montibus  ora  creat,  .  .  .  .^ 

On  the  usage  of  Vergil  in  the  Aeneidy  Norden  (Aeneis  Buck  VI, 
p.  390)  has  already  remarked  that  the  deferred  adjective  is  mfre- 
quent,  the  deferred  noun  very  common;  the  explanation  of  this 
departure  from  both  Homeric  and  Hellenistic  usage  would  probably 
form  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  verse  unity,  with  which  we  are  not 
at  present  immediately  concerned.  Norden  adds  that  the  deferred 
adjective  occupies  a  significant  position  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
verse,  and  this  position  he  finds  justified  by  the  meanings  of  the 
adjectives  thus  deferred.  Such  adjectives  add  "einen  besonders 
wesentlichen  Begriflf,''  most  frequently  they  express  "ein  Zahlen-, 
Grossen-,  oder  Raumverhaltnis,"  or  they  mark  "eine  besonders 
hervorstechende  Eigenschaft  des  Substantivs";  and  he  notes  as  char- 
acteristic those  cases  in  which  the  deferred  adjective  is  contrasted,  or 
explained,  or  amplified  in  the  rest  of  the  second  verse. 

True  as  this  may  be  from  a  descriptive  standpoint,  its  value  as  an 
aid  to  the  appreciation  of  Vergil's  technique  is  very  much  impaired 
when  we  recall  that  all  adjectives  are  either  decorative  or  forceful, 
that  a  poet  of  Vergil's  rank  will  employ  forceful  rather  than  decorative 
adjectives,  and  that  consequently  few  adjectives  will  indicate  anything 
short  of  " eine  besonders  hervorstechende  Eigenschaft."  The  validity 
of  Norden's  description  is  further  weakened  by  his  failure  to  see  that 
deferred  verbs,  limiting  genitives,  appositives,  and  nouns  stand  in  the 
same  prominent  position,  but  cannot  with  any  uniformity  fall  into 
such  descriptive  categories.  One  cannot  understand  Vergil's  tech- 
nique by  treatmg  deferred  adjectives  apart  from  such  examples 
of  other  deferred  units  as  the  following:  Italiam  fato  profugus 
Laviniaque  venit  |  litora,  multum  ille  et  terris  iactatus  et  alto  (i.  2), 
progeniem  sed  enim  Troiano  a  sanguine  duci  |  audierat,  Tyrias  olim 
quae  verteret  arces  (i.    19).     These  deferred  units  are  followed 

i  The  examples  of  the  observance  of  the  principle  are:  236,  33,  44,  83,  87,  88,  92, 

109  (predicative),  140,  170,  176,  206,  220,  289,  3l9,  383.     In  279 princeps 

....  I  ...  .  Chiron  .....  and  in  392,  ....  Delphi  ....  |  ...  .  laeti  .... 
the  adjectives  are  so  distinctly  adverbial  that  we  need  not  consider  them  as 
exceptions;  if  they  are  exceptions  they  simply  illustrate  the  favorite  Latin  sequence 
of  molossic  (or  choriambic)  word  and  spondaic  word  at  the  beginning  of  the  hexameter. 


J 


*. 


l-J 


"Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


49 


by  a  sense  pause  as  are  the  majority  of  deferred  adjectives;  but 
neither  litora  nor  audierat  has  in  my  opinion  any  appreciable 
emphasis;  a  great  number  of  other  deferred  imits  are  without  empha- 
sis though  first  in  the  verse;  the  only  description  of  historical  value 
is  one  that  covers  features  common  to  all  deferred  units;  to  such  a 
description  I  hope  to  attain  at  the  end  of  this  study. 

To  return  to  our  special  pursuit  of  deferred  adjectives  and  nouns 
in  Vergil :  except  for  the  predominance  of  deferred  nouns  the  usage 
of  Vergil  is  essentially  Hellenistic  with  a  few  peculiarities  and  slight 
extensions  of  Hellenistic  usage  due  to  the  differences  in  the  Latin 
hexameter  and  in  Vergilian  diction.  The  first  two  books  of  the 
Aeneid  yield  these  facts  of  importance  to  our  study: 


Nouns 

Adjectives 


Long  Initial 

Syllable  and  First 

in  Verse 


71 
26 

97 


Long  Initial 

Syllable,  but  Not 

First 


18 
3 

21 


Short  Initial 
Syllable 


28 
S 

33 


The  twenty-one  exceptions  to  the  general  practice  represent  a 
somewhat  larger  proportion  than  we  have  hitherto  met  in  the  heroic 
epic;  the  increase  is  largely  due  to  a  slightly  greater  freedom  in  the 
treatment  of  trochaic  and  spondaic  words,  but  mainly  a  mere  exten- 
sion of  Apollonius'  practice,  and  not  so  general  as  in  Lucretius' 
first  book:  ....  quibus  omms  ab  alto  |  frangitur  mque  sinus  scindit 
sese  unda  reductos  (i.  160),  .  .  .  .  et  pinea  furtim  |  laxat  claustra 
Sinon  (ii.  258),  ....  tactuque  innoxia  mollis  |  lambere  ftrnnma 
comas  (ii.  683),  ....  stupet  insdus  alto  |  accipiens  sonitum  saxi 
de  vertice  pO'^tor  (ii.  307),  ....  tum  volgus  et  omnem  |  miscet 
agens  telis  nemora  inter  frondea  turham  (i.  190) ;  this  balancing  of 
the  ends  of  verses  is  occasionally  indulged:  .  .  .  .  aut  vibi  fimo  \ 
argentum  Pariusve  lapis  circumdatur  auro  (i.  592) ;  other  spondaic  or 
trochaic  nouns  near  or  at  the  end  of  the  verse  occur  in  i.  756;  ii.  782. 
The  regular  sequence  of  dactylic  word  and  molossic  word  occasions 
an  apparent  exception  in  i.  741.  A  prepositional  phrase  brings  the 
noun  to  the  second  place  in  ii.  751. 

The  most  important  group  of  apparent  exceptions,  however,  m- 
volves  the  combination  of  molossic  or  choriambic  words  and  spondaic 


50 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


words  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse.  The  Homeric  practice,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  to  place  the  spondaic  word  first;  already  in  Lucretius 
we  have  noted  the  opposite  arrangement.  This  favored  sequence 
in  the  Latin  hexameter  may  be  illustrated  from  the  first  book  of 
the  Aeneid:  quite  apart  from  nouns  and  adjectives  the  following 
verses  show  this  combination  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse: 
2,  53,  73,  104,  118,  127,  145,  178,  181,  206,  217,  239,  269,  282,  286, 
294,  299,  311,  333,  340,  355,  368,  380,  388,  395,  406,  422,  432,  435, 
447,  471,  481,  551,  571,  585,  590,  634,  686,  693,  713,  724,  747,  749, 
754;  the  list  might  be  legitimately  increased  by  including  cases  that 
involve  elision.  Now  in  all  these  cases  the  spondaic  word  stands  second ; 
to  be  sure  in  many  verses  meter  or  sense  or  natural  collocation  makes 
a  different  order  impossible;  on  the  other  hand  in  a  fair  majority  of 
cases  the  reverse  order  is  quite  feasible.  Over  against  this  evidence 
showing  a  predilection  for  the  sequence  molossus-spondee  or  choriamb- 
spondee  stand  isolated  examples  of  the  opposite  arrangement  which 
the  Homeric  epic  favors;  e.g.,  640,  734,  in  both  of  which  cases  the 
reverse  order  is  impossible;  most  illuminating  is  the  exceptional 
arrangement  in  423;  here  the  exception  is  clearly  due  to  a  desire  to 
avoid  monotony;  for  the  preceding  verse  illustrates  the  normal 
sequence,  and,  without  the  exceptional  arrangement  in  423,  four 
successive  verses  would  begin  with  molossic  words: 

miratur  molem  Aeneas,  magalia  quondam, 
miratur  porias  strepitumque  et  strata  viarum. 
423  instant  ardentes  Tjrii :  pars  ducere  muros 

molirique  arcem  et  manibus  subvolvere  saxa. 

If  the  Latin  hexameter  so  clearly  prefers  the  spondaic  word  after 
rather  than  before  the  molossic  or  choriambic  word  at  the  beginning 
of  the  verse,  the  following  examples  in  which  a  spondaic  noun  stands 
second  in  the  verse  simply  illustrate  the  force  of  this  preference: 
i.  395,  432,  622;  ii.  173,  286,  461,  586;  in  some  of  these  cases  the 
opposite  arrangement  is  impossible  because  of  the  hiatus  or  short 
final  syllables  that  would  result  from  the  reversal  of  the  order. 
Possibly  i.  294  may  be  added  to  the  list:  in  this  verse  a  spondaic 
noun  escapes  to  the  third  place.^  Such  exceptional  examples  bring 
the  deferred  word  usually  before  the  caesural  pause. 

» In  ii.  98:  hinc  spargere  voces  |  in  volgum  ambiguaa  et  quaerere  conscius  arma,  we 
have  a  choriambic  adjective  following  a  spondaic  unit  (by  elision) ;  if  this  seems  to 


"  Deferred '*  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


51 


IV 

It  is  desirable  to  test  certain  conclusions  toward  which  our  study 
of  the  epic  tends  by  considering  a  different  type  of  poetry  in  which  the 
metrical  structure  is  quite  unlike  that  of  the  epic  hexameter.  For  this 
purpose  I  have  chosen  the  trimeters  of  Sophocles'  Antigone  and  the 
iambic  and  trochaic  measures  of  ordinary  dialogue  in  Plautus* 
comedies.  In  neither  case  can  I  venture  upon  any  full  account  of 
the  deferred  adjectives  or  nouns,  or  consider  at  length  the  idiosyn- 
crasies of  the  metrical  structure.  The  questions  I  wish  to  answer 
are:  Do  the  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  stand  at  the  beginning 
of  the  verse  whenever  they  are  metrically  available  for  that  position  ? 
If  so,  what  part  do  metrical  convenience  and  convention  as  well  as 
stylistic  and  rhythmical  effects  play  in  this  initial  position  of  these 
deferred  units  ? 

The  trimeter  of  tragedy  quite  regularly  ends  the  sentence  at  the 
caesura  of  the  second  verse;  verse  unity  is  not  conspicuous;  the 
deferred  nouns  in  the  Antigone  far  exceed  the  adjectives  (forty-six 
nouns,  eighteen  adjectives).  Of  the  sixty-four  examples,  forty-nine 
stand  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse,  fifteen  beyond  the  begin- 
ning. The  general  impression,  therefore,  is  much  the  same  as  in  epic 
verse.  As  for  the  stylistic  effects  of  adjectives  in  the  initial  position. 
I  might  repeat  Norden's  description  of  Vergilian  practice  (cf.  299, 
642,  659,  660,  662,  1047)  but  I  should  find  great  difiiculty  in  detect- 
ing any  prominence  in  the  thought  in  the  majority  of  deferred  nouns 
(cf.  239,  247,  410,  424,  425,  435).  So  far  as  rhythmical  effects  are 
concerned  the  trimeter  like  the  hexameter  with  great  regularity 
has  a  sense  pause  either  immediately  after  the  deferred  noun  or 
adjective,  or  in  the  third  foot  beyond  the  deferred  word.  Without 
any  doubt  the  consequent  variety  of  rhythmical  effects  produced 
by  the  varying  position  of  the  sense  pause  is  an  important  element 
in  ancient  as  in  modern  verse;  nor  do  I  doubt  that  the  development 
of  deferred  units  is  closely  connected  with  a  sense  pause  near  the 
beginning  of  the  second  verse;  but  so  long  as  the  optional  pause  at 
the  caesura  beyond  the  noun  or  adjective  is  equally  favored,  the  sense 

contradict  the  preferred  sequence  established  above,  there  is  a  slight  justification  both 
for  the  exceptional  sequence  and  for  the  position  of  the  adjective  in  the  second  place  in  the 
fact  that  the  preceding  verse  begins  with  a  choriambic  word ;  amhiguas  at  the  beginning 
therefore,  quite  apart  from  other  considerations,  would  occasion  undesirable  monotony. 


52 


Henby  W.  Prescott 


pause  immediately  after  the  noun  or  adjective  is  only  one  of  many 
factors  involved  in  the  prominent  position  of  deferred  adjectives  and 
nouns.  A  few  significant  facts  from  a  metrical  standpoint  are  these: 
spondaic  words  in  general  stand  in  various  parts  of  the  verse,  but,  of 
twenty-two  spondaic  nouns  and  adjectives  deferred  to  the  second 
verse,  twenty  stand  first  in  the  verse;  words  of  the  measurement  -  -  - 
are  with  great  frequency  placed  in  various  positions  beyond  the 
beginning  of  the  verse,  but  of  eight  deferred  adjectives  and  nouns  of 
this  measurement  all  stand  first  in  the  verse  (46,  414,  475,  659,  660, 
1073,  1086,  1213);  iambic  words  are  not  greatly  restricted  but  the 
sixth  foot  is  so  natural  a  habitat  that  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives 
of  iambic  form  are  not  so  consistently  at  the  beginning:  of  fifteen 
cases,  ten  stand  first,  one  is  in  the  second  foot,  four  are  in  the  sixth 
foot.  It  is  clear  that  the  initial  position  in  so  large  a  majority  of 
cases  cannot  be  attributed  merely  to  metrical  convenience. 

In  discussing  the  usage  of  Latin  comedy  we  are  confronted  with 
insuperable  difiaculties :  without  begging  at  all  the  question  at  issue 
we  may  say  that  our  study  of  the  epic  and  of  Sophocles'  tragedy  has 
led  us  to  the  conclusion  that  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  are  with 
surprising  uniformity  placed  at  the  begmning  of  the  second  verse; 
most  of  the  departures  from  this  practice  we  have  found  to  be  due 
to  metrical  constramt.  If,  however,  influenced  by  these  conclusions, 
we  seek  in  metrical  constraint  explanations  of  exceptions  in  the  verse 
of  comedy,  we  find  ourselves  baffled  both  by  the  complex  nature  of  the 
Latin  verse  and  by  the  moot  questions  of  Plautine  meter;  we  cannot, 
for  example,  handle  properly  the  material  before  us  without  knowing 
the  validity  of  Meyer's  law,  or  the  exact  limitations  of  the  theory 
that  accent  and  ictus  coincide.  Under  the  circumstances,  we  must 
be  content  with  such  evidence  as  is  of  immediate  value  to  our  study 
and  at  the  same  time  unaffected  by  contemporary  discussions  of 
Plautme  meter;  we  may  not  hope  for  completeness  or  definitive 
conclusions.^ 

In  an  earlier  study  of  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  from  the 
standpoint  of  verse  unity  I  divided  the  adjectives  into  groups  for  the 

»  The  material  in  Plautus  may  be  found  either  in  my  previous  article  on  the  relation 
of  verse  to  thought  (Univ.  of  Cal.  PuU.:  Class.  Phil.  I,  205-62).  or  in  Wiebe  De  versus 
aententiaeque  condnnitate  apud  veteres  poetas  Romanos  (Gottingen,  1909). 


"Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


53 


purposes  of  that  study.  This  division  into  ordinary  attributives, 
possessive  adjectives,  pronominal  adjectives,  and  numerals  may  be 
less  valid  for  our  present  investigation,  but  I  follow  it  for  con- 
venience. The  general  impression  made  by  Plautus  as  regards  the 
initial  position  of  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  may  be  indicated 
by  the  statistics  for  those  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  in  which  the 
adjective  involved  in  the  combination  is  an  ordinary  attributive; 
in  this  particular  group  of  cases  the  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives 
occupy  the  first  place  in  the  second  verse  in  two-thirds  of  the  examples. 
In  this  group  the  deferred  adjectives  in  the  initial  position  are  very 
frequently  emphatic  and  are  frequently  followed  by  a  strong  sense 
pause  (e.g.,  Rud.  422,  1159;  Capt.  610;  Pers.  100;  Amph.  1109); 
Homeric  technique  is  exactly  paralleled  in  spes  mihi  est  vos  inventur- 
um  fratres  germanos  duos  |  geminoSj  una  matre  natos  et  patre  uno 
uno  die  (Men,  1102),  in  which  the  rest  of  the  second  verse  elaborates 
the  deferred  adjective;  as  usual  the  adjective  in  this  initial  position  is 
generally  without  much  straining  interpreted  as  conveying  emphasis; 
the  sense  pause  is  not  so  regular  (e.g.,  Trin.  790;  Amph,  1064; 
Cure,  431;  As,  764;  M,G,  764)  in  the  cases  of  nouns  and  adjectives, 
but  it  may  be  granted  that  some  degree  of  pause  is  quite  conceivable 
in  very  many  of  the  examples.  That  the  deferred  nouns,  however, 
in  this  initial  position  are  regularly  emphatic  is  quite  inconceivable 
(e.g.,  Ps,  1163;  Amph,  981;  Capt.  160;  Mere,  263;  M,G,  451; 
Ps,  961;  Amph.  1064;  Terence  Ad,  275). 

Although  the  exceptions,  in  which  the  deferred  adjective  or  noun 
is  postponed  beyond  the  beginning  of  the  verse,  are  larger  than  usual 
in  number,  it  appears  that  the  difference  is  in  some  degree  due  to  the 
character  of  the  verse  and  the  metrical  content  of  the  words.  In  the 
main  it  is  true  that  the  cases  in  which  the  deferred  word  is  beyond 
the  beginning  are  metrically  impossible  at  the  beginning.  So,  for 
example,  it  is  clear  that  an  iambic  verse  may  not  begin  with  a  cretic 
sequence  of  syllables;  a  small  number  of  exceptions  fall  under  this 
head  (Cist,  159;  Poen,  616, 1048, 1105;  Pers,  118).  A  dactylic  word 
in  iambic  verse  becoming  cretic  by  position  is  similarly  postponed 
(Pers,  106),  but  this  particular  example  is  hardly  to  be  explained 
metrically;  rather  adponi  frigidam  constitutes  one  idea  balancing 
calefieri  in  the  preceding  verse.    An  iambic  verse  may  not  begin 


54 


Henry  W.  Prescott 


with  a  trochaic  word  ending  with  an  unelided  vowel  (Merc.  97). 
Trochaic  verses  may  not  begin  with  an  iambic  sequence  (Trin, 
1082,  M.G.  442).    Certain  long  words  have  a  fixed  habitat  at  the  end 
of  the  verse  (Poen,  90;  Terence  Hec.  86).    Very  striking  effects  of 
style  justify  a  few  departures  from  the  prmciple:   the  play  on 
lepidus  in  Ps.  27-28  perhaps  accounts  for  the  postponement  of 
conscriptis  (contrast  Ps.  999) ;  the  postponement  of  pudicam  m  M.G. 
508  results  in  a  balance  of  the  ends  of  the  verse  and  effective  juxta- 
position in  the  middle  (cf.  Univ.  of  Cal.  Publ:  Class.  Phil.  I,  222); 
the  reiteration  of  unicus  in  effective  positions  in  the  verses  in  Cas. 
262-64  justifies  its  postponement  in  263;   the  balancing  of  the  ends 
of  the  verse  with  duo  ...  ,  tertio  may  justify  the  postponement 
of  res  m  Most.  776  (cf.  op.  dt.  I,  236),  and  in  this  case  duo  itself  is  a 
deferred  adjective;  the  artificial  structure  of  Trin.  493-94  is  enhanced 
by  the  postponement  of  censu  (cf.  op.  cU.  I,  228) ;  the  juxtaposition 
of  civem  and  conservam  is  very  effective  in  Terence  Eun.  858.     In 
general,  therefore,   the  exceptions  appear  to  be  due  to  metrical 
constraint  or  to  effective  stylistic  features.^ 

The  combinations  of  noun  and  adjective  in  which  the  adjective 
is  pronominal  may  possibly  be  somewhat  different  from  those  in  which 
ordmary  attributives  are  involved  (cf.  op.  dt.  I,  214-15);  there  is, 
however,  a  considerable  degree  of  uniformity  in  the  position  of  the 
deferred  noun  or  adjective  in  such  combinations.  As  I  showed  in 
my  previous  study  {op.  dt.  I,  245),  "in  all  cases  of  separation  (by 
the  verse  end)  m  which  mens,  tuos,  or  mos  follows  a  substantive, 
....  the  possessive  stands  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse.'' 
(For  list  of  cases  cf.  op.  dt.  I,  245,  n.  82;  exceptions  in  Trin.  141; 

«  To  a  few  more  exceptions  I  refer  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  without  attempting 
any  convincing  explanation:   I  suspect  that  the  position  of  opportunitate  in  Ep.  203 
IS  largely  determined  by  metrical  considerations  and  the  symmetrical  scheme  of  sound 
effects  (cf.  op.cit.  I,  237);   a  comparison  with  Merc.  964  seems  to  support  this  view 
The  combination  of  an  adverb  with  an  adjective  seems  to  me  to  make  a  single  unit  of 
thought  in  such  phrases  as  pariter  moratum  (AuL  22)  and  celeriler  calidia  (Ep.  142) 
Pathetic  afterthoughts  are  rather  consistently  postponed  beyond  the  beginning  in  the 
cases  of  misen,  miserae,  solae  (Capt.  83;   Merc.  818;   Rud.  370,  75,  163)      \  few  cases 
are  left:  gemina  (M.G.  975).  honorem  (Aul.  17).  opere  (Cas.  993.  Terence  Eun.  533 
with  which  contrast  Most.  421),  puen  (Poen.  989),  transennae  (Rud.  1236);   it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  offer  suggestions  on  these  cases,  but  I  am  not  interested  in  setting 
up  a  rule  that  is  not  liable  to  exceptions.     It  may  be  noted  that  many  of  the  excep- 
tions m  this  note  and  in  the  discussion  above  bring  the  deferred  adjective  or  noun 
before  the  caesura!  pause. 


"Deferred"  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


55 


Terence  And.  80).  Such  regularity  may  seem  to  strengthen  my 
contention  that  deferred  adjectives  are  normally  in  the  initial 
position;  but  I  suspect  that  the  regularity  is  almost  too  precise,  and 
that  other  factors  beside  the  principle  which  I  am  establishing  are  at 
work  in  the  case  of  the  deferred  possessive.  It  should  be  noted  that 
such  possessives  are  almost  never  emphatic  and  almost  never  in  close 
relation  to  any  sense  pause.  In  this  same  combination,  when  the 
possessive  is  in  the  first  verse  and  the  noun  is  deferred,  the  deferred 
noun  is  only  in  a  fair  majority  of  cases  in  the  initial  position 
(As.  113,  786;  Bacch.  778;  Cist.  185,  548,  773;  Men.  421,  481,  519; 
M.G.  636,  800;  Rud.  1393;  Trin.  1148;  True.  827;  beyond  the 
beginning  in  As.  17;  Aul.  734;  Bacch.  407,  843;  Ep.  280;  Men. 
741;  M.G.  564;  St.  417;  True.  356).  When  noster  is  deferred  it  is 
beyond  the  beginning  (Bacch.  173;  Ep.  598;  True.  406)  except  in 
As.  738;  the  deferred  noim  with  noster  is  beyond  the  beginning  in 
Bacch.  238;  a  deferred  voster  is  in  the  initial  position  in  Terence 
Haut.  712.  In  combinations  involving  the  demonstratives  the  usage 
is  somewhat  variable:  with  hie  the  deferred  noun  is  in  the  initial 
position  in  Aul.  295;  but  postponed  in  Trin.  21 ;  True.  662;  a  deferred 
hie  stands  first  in  Ps.  59;  Rud.  1379;  but  postponed  in  Poen.  1148; 
with  iste  the  deferred  noun  stands  first  in  M.G.  702;  Poen.  266;  a 
deferred  iste  stands  first  in  Capt.  113,  but  postponed  in  Men.  385; 
with  ille  the  deferred  noun  stands  in  the  initial  position  in  As.  361; 
Aul.  611,  and  to  these  I  think  may  be  added  cases  in  which  a  pos- 
sessive stands  before  the  noun  at  the  beginning  forming  a  single  unit 
with  the  noun  (Ep.  487;  Amph.  859;  M.G.  132,  243);  a  deferred  ille 
stands  first  in  Cure.  346;  Ep.  268;  St.  553;  with  is  a  deferred  noun 
is  postponed  in  M.G.  112;  with  the  indefinite  quis  a  deferred  noun  is 
postponed  in  M.G.  608,  and  in  Capt.  712  but  here  preceded  only 
by  a  possessive;  with  the  interrogative  adjective  a  deferred  noun 
is  in  the  initial  position  in  M.G.  1345;  Rud.  333.  With  perfect 
regularity  the  deferred  noun  after  the  relative  adjective  qui  stands 
in  the  initial  position  (M.G.  74,  952;  Pers.  115;  Poen.  450;  Ps.  768; 
Rud.  18,  1066)  and  in  several  of  these  cases  there  is  a  certain  amount 
of  emphasis  and  a  strong  sense  pause. 

All  these  examples  would  bear  a  more  careful  examination  but  I 
am  quite  content  to  admit  a  considerable  amount  of  irregularity  in 


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Henry  W.  Prescott 


j 


i 


3 


many  cases  involving  pronominal  adjectives;  there  is  as  much  uni- 
formity as  I  should  expect  in  these  words.  Similarly  in  the  cases  of 
numerals  and  omnes  there  is  slight  variation:  the  deferred  numeral 
is  in  the  initial  position  in  Ep,  237;  Most  776;  Rud.  642;  St.  540; 
Trin,  775;  a  deferred  omnes  is  first  in  Merc.  94;  Poen.  500;  but  post- 
poned in  Amph.  1133;  Cayt.  673  aj).  Nonius;  Cas.  522;  the  deferred 
noun  with  omnes  is  first  in  Ep.  502,  523.^ 

V 

In  order  to  present  clearly  some  of  the  factors  involved  in  the 
position  of  these  deferred  words  I  have  treated  the  subject  more 
mechanically  than  a  feature  of  poetic  art  should  be  treated.  There 
is  no  occasion  for  a  hard  and  fast  rule  establishing  deferred  nouns  and 
adjectives  (and  some  other  deferred  units)  in  the  initial  position.  It 
is  apparent,  however,  that  this  position  is  sufficiently  regular  to 
make  a  recognition  of  the  fact  essential  to  our  appreciation  of  many 
types  of  classical  verse,  and  to  make  an  explanation  of  the  phenome- 
non desirable.  The  important  facts  are  that  in  the  main  the  deferred 
words  in  the  initial  position  are  metrically  available  for  other  posi- 
tions, and  the  deferred  words  beyond  the  beginning  of  the  verse  are 
usually  unavailable  for  the  initial  position.  Neither  metrical  con- 
ditions nor  the  requirements  of  collocation  nor  features  of  style 
serve,  individually  or  in  combination,  to  account  fully  for  the  regu- 
larity of  poetic  usage:  for  although  normal  collocation  would  often 
bring  them  near  the  begmning,  it  does  not  require  the  initial  position; 
and  emphasis,  though  apparent  or  conceivable  in  deferred  adjectives 
in  the  initial  position,  is  not  discoverable  usually  in  deferred  nouns. 
These  conditions  point  to  a  certain  degree  of  conventionality  in  the 
initial  position  of  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives.  This  convention- 
ality, the  effect  of  which  is  much  stronger  in  the  earlier  than  in  the  later 
stages  of  verse  development,  seems  to  me  to  be  explained  by  con- 
ditions in  Homeric  verse  which  Professor  Seymour  discussed  in  their 
relation  to  the  caesural  pause.  Here  in  the  earliest  classical  verse  we 
find  a  large  number  of  examples  of  nouns  and  adjectives  isolated  at 
the  beginning  of  the  second  verse;  inasmuch  as  these  are  followed 
very  frequently  by  a  sense  pause,  and  the  balance  of  the  verse  is 

»  For  examples  of  the  deferred  noun  and  adjective  in  Menander  cf.  Wiebe  op.  cit. 
72-75.    In  Aristophanes  the  infrequency  of  the  deferred  noun  and  adjective  is  striking 


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"Deferred^'  Nouns  and  Adjectives 


57 


more  or  less  otiose,  it  is  at  least  conceivable  that  they  illustrate  a 
development  from  absolute  verse  unity  to  enjambement  in  an  ele- 
mentary stage.  In  this  stage  detachable  units  escaped  to  the 
beginning  of  the  second  verse,  and  the  rest  of  the  verse  was 
"padded";  appositive  adjectives  were  easily  separable;  so  too, 
appositive  nouns.  As  verse  technique  develops,  adherent  nouns 
and  adjectives  escape  freely,  but  the  initial  position  has  become 
somewhat  stereotyped.  Undoubtedly  the  initial  position  for  such 
units  was  particularly  favored  because  a  sense  pause  so  often 
naturally  fell  after  the  deferred  unit  and  enabled  the  poet  to  pro- 
duce a  great  variety  of  ryhthmical  effects  near  the  beginning  of  the 
verse.  But  we  find  not  infrequently  that  the  sense  pause  falls  beyond 
the  deferred  noun  or  adjective;  in  such  cases  the  noun  or  adjective 
may  be  said  to  be  only  a  part  of  a  larger  deferred  unit,  but  still  in 
most  cases  it  asserts  i.'self  in  the  initial  position;  only  on  occasion 
and  usually  under  metrical  constraint  does  it  then  escape  to  a  position 
beyond  the  beginning  and  usually  before  the  caesural  pause. 

The  content  of  a  poet's  diction,  idiosyncrasies  of  meter  and  of 
style,  various  conflicting  factors  may  interfere  with  the  general 
tendency  to  place  deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  in  the  initial  position. 
The  heroic  epic  is  more  monotonously  regular  than  the  didactic 
epic  of  Lucretius.  The  complex  structure  of  the  verse  of  Latin  com- 
edy, the  exuberant  person  ility  of  Plautus,  will  conform  less  readily 
than  the  simpler  tragic  verse  in  the  hands  of  a  well-balanced  artist 
like  Sophocles. 

Not  infrequently  the  skilful  poet  will  enhance  the  effect  of  the 
initial  position  by  deferring  adjectives,  and  less  frequently  nouns,  that 
are  prominent  in  the  thought,  but  it  is  in  my  opinion  a  mistake  to 
demand  that  these  deferred  units  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse  should 
be  uniformly  emphatic.  There  is  much  great  3r  uniformity  in  the 
appearance  of  a  sense  pause,  and  in  consequent  variation  of  rhythm, 
than  in  emphasis. 

In  general,  as  the  result  of  the  reconciliation  of  many  different 
factors — ^metrical  conditions,  natural  collocation,  rhythmical  and 
stylistic  effects,  the  historical  development  of  classical  verse — the 
deferred  nouns  and  adjectives  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  stand  first 
in  the  verse  if  they  are  metrically  available.    In  a  very  small  minority 


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Henry  W.  Prescott 


of  cases  these  deferred  words,  though  available  for  the  initial  position, 
escape  to  a  position  before  the  main  caesura,  and  then  usually 
under  the  metrical  constraint  of  their  environment.  Outside  of  these 
two  groups  appear  an  almost  negligible  number  of  deferred  words 
postponed  even  beyond  the  caesural  pause,  and  a  larger  number  of 
deferred  words,  variously  disposed,  which  are  not  metrically  available 
for  the  initial  position.* 

The  University  of  Chicago 

» I  have  frequently  referred  to  other  deferred  units  than  the  noun  and  adjective 
which  seem  to  be  treated  in  the  same  fashion:  the  reader  may  easily  note  them  in  the 
texts  of  epic  and  dramatic  poetry.  The  deferred  adverb,  the  deferred  verb,  the  noun 
as  subject  or  object,  are  noteworthy  in  the  Homeric  epic.  The  uniformity  with  which 
the  deferred  genitive  in  Plautus  appears  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse  may  be  seen  by  a 
glance  at  Wiebe  op.  cit.  9  ff.  For  deferred  nouns  in  apposition  cf.  Asmus  De  appoai- 
tionis  apud  Plautum  et  Terentium  collocatione  (Halle,  1891).  It  is  desirable  that  all 
such  deferred  units  of  thought,  including  the  longer  phrases,  should  be  investigated, 
and  other  types  of  poetry  than  the  epic  and  drama;  I  hav3  no  doubt  that  a  more  com- 
prehensive study  would  lead  to  corrections  in  the  provisional  conclusions  which  I  have 
drawn  in  this  limited  investigation. 


H 


